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After Frank Fabrega survived an ordeal with cancer, he decided to get involved with Relay for Life as a way to give back.
He helped raise funds for the organization and gained a liking for it.
That passion for giving back ended up blending into his experiences with a pickleball club in Rancho Mission Viejo in which he’s a member, since the group also started taking on fundraising initiatives.
The club raised more than $2,800 for the American Cancer Society with a pickleball tournament in October 2020. Pickleball enthusiasts in RMV have also raised money for Operation Smile—a nonprofit that helps kids dealing with cleft conditions—and a group that helps people with Parkinson’s disease.
“One of our members here has Parkinson’s that plays with us,” Fabrega said. “Several of our members’ spouses have Parkinson’s. They came to us and told us they go to a program in Laguna Niguel called Pep for You. They asked if there’s a way we can do a fundraiser for them.”
The club raised more than $11,000 for the Parkinson’s program and has also assisted local military family advocacy group Homefront America and provided kids’ car seats for new moms.
A big fundraiser they hold around the Christmas holiday season raises money to buy toys for underprivileged families. The tournaments around that time have firefighters come out with fire trucks for kids to visit, as well as an appearance by Santa.
“That fundraiser was taken over by the pickleball club at the request of a group that ran it before,” club administrator Drew Maconachy said. “They thought we would have greater success as a large organization raising toys for children throughout Orange County. We turn the Hilltop Club into a Santa’s village.”
Money is raised through entry fees for the charitable tournaments, which usually costs players $20 to $25. With the Christmas tournament, club members take the families to a store and let them purchase toys with the tournament funds.
“It’s a wonderful way for us to be able to show kids the importance of giving,” Maconachy said.
The holiday games are a fun experience for the players, too, because current firefighters and law enforcement officers have faced off against retired first responders in the club.
“It was a great way to recognize our first responders,” Maconachy said.
The club’s next fundraiser is coming up in June and will be for the Extraordinary Life Foundation, which provides mental health counseling for children. The group is open to business sponsors for their tournaments, Maconachy said.
The pickleball group has more than 300 players, most of whom participate in the charity efforts, Maconachy said.
As for the group’s regular games, they play on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings at pickleball courts in Rancho Mission Viejo. Not even wet courts from light rainfall deters the players, given a handful were paddling away on Wednesday, May 24, following some slight misting.
Using pickleball to help out others through nonprofit fundraising is “terrific,” Maconachy said.
“Frank and his team of people are very actively involved throughout the year,” Maconachy said. “It’s a testament to the community, to be quite honest. I have never lived in a community that has so many clubs and so many ways for residents to participate.”
“This is a community of not only folks like Frank and I—who are a little over 65, or, in my case, a little over 70—but it’s a community open to all age brackets and is very much an inviting community where people are encouraged to participate in so many different ways,” Maconachy continued.
Fabrega said the nonprofits they work with are impressed with how the events turn out.
“Our reward is seeing the smiles on the children’s faces during the holidays,” Fabrega said. “We make it a family atmosphere. We make it fun.”
